“Grandmom is sick. It’s liver cancer, but the good news is that it’s at an early stage,” Mike said on the
phone. “The doctor recommended going for treatment in the city. You and your sister have settled down
in the city and know how to get around. Make a hospital appointment for Grandmom. We’ll set out in a
bit and take Grandmom to the hospital. “This way, Grandmom can see a specialist right away when she
arrives. I heard that you must pay some sort of deposit for a treatment, so don’t forget to make the
payment. Although your parents aren’t around, she’s your grandmother too. You girls have never
contributed to Grandmom and Granddad’s living expenses. Now that Grandmom is sick, you should
cover for her medical expenses to make up for the neglected family support.”
Serenity grimaced as her cousin went on about the plan.
She lost her parents at the age of ten. Serenity and Liberty then received their life insurance payout of
1.2 million dollars. Fair enough for Grandmom and Granddad to want a share since they were their
dad’s parents. As the sisters were underaged then, the grandparents got a bigger share than they
deserved. Serenity also knew that the grandparents took half of the insurance money and divided it
among her uncles and
aunts. Each uncle received a hundred and fifty thousand dollars while the two aunts got a share of
twenty thousand bucks each. The rest was for the grandparents’ retirement.
Although Serenity was only ten back then, she remembered every single detail.
It had not been forgotten that the grandparents made it official through a written agreement , witnessed
by the town officials and Serenity’s maternal side of the family, that the sisters did not have to pay for
the grandparents’ living expenses so long as the sisters gave up a bigger portion of the insurance
payout to the grandparents. The contract was signed and sealed by the grandparents, uncles, and
aunts as well as both of them sisters.
There were three copies of the contract, which were kept by the sisters, the grandparents, and the town
community Despite the multitude of witnesses, Mike had the nerve to accuse the sisters of never
providing for the grandparents.
No relatives were willing to take in the sisters after they lost their parents. Since their paternal
grandparents took half of the 1.2 million insurance payout, the maternal grandparents did not want to
lose out and demanded four hundred thousand dollars too. The sisters were left with two hundred
thousand bucks in the end.
Liberty, only fifteen years old at the time, arranged for
their parents’ funeral and sorted out Serenity’s paperwork to get into boarding school. Serenity’s
education was guaranteed along with her meals without being dependent on the hospitality of others.
Such was the life of the sisters after their parents’ passing
The so-called relatives never reached out or lent a helping hand. However, the same relatives showed
up unannounced one day, demanding money when Liberty was going to walk down the aisle. The way
they saw it was that the family should be sharing the wealth now that Liberty made it big
Only these relatives were capable of such a shameless act.
It came as no surprise that the family was demanding for the sisters to pay the medical fees now that
the grandmother was sick.
“Mr. Hunt, you’re twelve years older than me if I remember correctly. Fifteen years ago, you were
twenty two when my parents died in an accident. You were there when we were splitting the insurance
payout. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that we don’t need to pay for Grandmom and Granddad’s
maintenance in exchange for the insurance money.
“You used the hundred and fifty thousand dollars from Grandmom and Granddad to build a house. The
hundred thousand dollars was also for their retirement. After
enjoying my parents’ blood money, you have the cheek to accuse me of not contributing to the family
support and want me to make up for it?!”
Fifteen years ago, a hundred and fifty thousand bucks was a large sum of money. It was enough to
build a house from the ground up.
“Oh, I forgot. Of course you do, since you have no shame! I’m telling you right now, Mike. I couldn’t
care less!”
Serenity terminated the call.
Mike’s attempt to call again earned him a spot in Serenity’s blacklisted contacts.
Zachary overheard the entire conversation . He had not looked into Serenity’s past and only heard from
Nana that Serenity lost her parents to a car wreck at the age of ten. The sister scraped through life and
completed their studies with the insurance money.
That explained Serenity’s great relationship with her sister.
Well, they only had each other for more than a decade after all.
To Serenity , Liberty was the only family she had in the world.
It seemed that Zachary should dig further into Serenity’s past.
Serenity never spoke to Zachary about her extended family, nor did Zachary have the curiosity to ask.
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